Porto, 16th February 2022 – TAIKAI, a Portuguese startup that connects companies and developers through a unique hackathon platform that has clients such as Microsoft, Pfizer and Nissan, has just announced the acquisition of Bepro Network Labs to build the future of decentralized programming.
Bepro Network’s technology and products will allow TAIKAI to continue to be a solutions provider for companies that see their future in the web3 ecosystem by providing the tools and resources for developers that want to build decentralized applications, in a fast and secure way.
“TAIKAI’s acquisition of Bepro Network Labs plays a key role in our vision and roadmap to apply blockchain and decentralised systems to the next generation of apps and the internet. Bepro and TAIKAI are now one entity with two brands, where TAIKAI represents centralized on-boarding, grants & hackathons, and Bepro Network as part of our future in web3 as our brand of total decentralisation for the developer economy.”, explains Mário Alves, CEO and co-founder of TAIKAI, about the operation.
“Over the years we’ve been building web3 products and services for use-cases such as NFTs, crypto-tokens, staking, prediction markets and more. We’ve built out the protocol, the network and SDKs to grow this ecosystem so that developers across the globe can create decentralized economies in community development environments, and help entrepreneurs connect with the right talent for their projects, building tools for the future of DAOs”, says Justin Wu co-founder of Bepro.
“TAIKAI´s business positioning brings Bepro Network’s decentralized framework to a new set of web2 operators such as Pfizer, Microsoft and other companies that will bridge current needs with future applications for web3. TAIKAI will now continue the mission of Bepro Labs to bring the world the best web3 products and services for decentralized development, while helping enterprises transition to this new tech paradigm through the solutions we have built.”, explains Rui Teixeira co-founder of Bepro
Founded in 2018, TAIKAI is a network of more than 50,000 developers working alongside some of the world’s largest organizations – including Pfizer, Nissan, Microsoft and the European Commission – to develop innovative technologies.
The acquisition of Bepro Network Labs will make TAIKAI the largest contributor to the Bepro ecosystem, allowing the company to respond to growing customer demand and integrate blockchain into its products and services. With this operation, Bepro Network Labs’ employees will be integrated into TAIKAI, with the team growing to more than 20 people.
“Our vision has always been to build the largest developer hub and network to source and leverage top technological talent from all over the world.”, says Mário Alves, CEO and Co-founder of TAIKAI. “As blockchain technology and web3 technology continue to grow in demand and utility for enterprises, TAIKAI sought to both decentralise its network power while preparing it for the future.”
In mid-January, TAIKAI had announced the launch of a hiring challenge, with the objective of facilitating the process of validating and attracting IT talent to technology companies, through the realization of real challenges that candidates must solve. The best participants to advance in the recruitment process are rewarded with crypto tokens, regardless of whether or not they are the chosen candidates, where BEPRO tokens will play a significant role in this incentive. After developing more than 100 hackathons and counting on a community of 50,000 developers, the hiring challenge is part of the ecosystem that TAIKAI intends to develop throughout 2022.
About TAIKAI
Founded in 2018 by Mário Alves and Hélder Vasconcelos, TAIKAI has built a talent marketplace to connect creators and companies through crowdsourcing solutions to their challenges. The tools developed by the company in terms of hackathons and hiring challenges allow testing and validating new ideas, products and talent globally. In three years, TAIKAI has held challenges to support innovation in more than 100 organizations from different countries, through its community of around 50,000 programmers and creatives around the world. In September 2021, the startup announced a 2 million euros fundraising, in a round led by the German fund of C3 Management, and with the participation of Portugal Ventures and Bright Pixel, with the aim of expanding into new markets and strengthening the offering solutions.
About C3 Management and C3 EOS VC Fund
C3 Management GmbH is an asset management company focused on managing venture funds which invest in exceptional technology companies worldwide. With our C3 EOS VC Venture Fund, our mission is, among other things, to accelerate growth, development, and especially adoption of EOSIO-based blockchains and the EOSIO software.
The C3 EOS VC Fund is part of Block.one’s investments and offers developers and entrepreneurs the funding they need to create community-driven businesses leveraging EOSIO. The C3 EOS VC Fund focuses on early and growth stage technology companies and typically takes a minority equity stake. C3 operates worldwide and is located in Frankfurt, Germany.
